Bob Mallamo looks into the visitors' locker room as the Broncos equipment personnel bring in gear. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo looks into the visitors' locker room as the Broncos...

Image 2 of 16

Bob Mallamo looks out through the tunnel that leads from the locker room to the field at Candlestick Park.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo looks out through the tunnel that leads from the locker...

Image 3 of 16

Bob Mallamo, a 49ers employee for many decades, will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo, a 49ers employee for many decades, will follow the...

Image 4 of 16

Mallamo (left) supervises the delivery of equipment at Candlestick Park. He manages the gear for both the home and visiting teams.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Mallamo (left) supervises the delivery of equipment at Candlestick...

Image 5 of 16

Bob MalamMallamo mo looks out from the team tunnel out onto the Bill Walsh Field at Candelstick Park on Wednesday. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob MalamMallamo mo looks out from the team tunnel out onto the...

Image 6 of 16

Bob Mallamo, right, speaks with Chris Valenti, the Broncos' equipment manager as the visitors' crew brings in gear on Wednesday. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo, right, speaks with Chris Valenti, the Broncos'...

Image 7 of 16

Bob Mallamo speaks with Chris Valenti, the Broncos' equipment as the visitors' crew brings in gear on Wednesday. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo speaks with Chris Valenti, the Broncos' equipment as...

Image 8 of 16

Bob Mallamo right, speaks with Chris Valenti, the Broncos' equipment as the visitors' crew brings in gear on Wednesday. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo right, speaks with Chris Valenti, the Broncos'...

Image 9 of 16

Bob Mallamo padlocks the 49ers lockeroom at Candelstick Park after all the team's equipment has been put in place. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo padlocks the 49ers lockeroom at Candelstick Park after...

Image 10 of 16

Bob Mallamo leaves the 49ers locker room after all the team's equipment has been put in place on Wednesday. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo leaves the 49ers locker room after all the team's...

Image 11 of 16

Bob Mallamo walks through the home team tunnell that hundreds of players for the Giants and 49ers used to come to the field. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo walks through the home team tunnell that hundreds of...

Image 12 of 16

A Broncos equipment handler puts up a name tag on a locker in the visiting team's locker room on Wednesday. Bob Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

A Broncos equipment handler puts up a name tag on a locker in the...

Image 13 of 16

Bob Mallamo walks past a plaque dedicating Bill Walsh Field at Candlestick Park. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo walks past a plaque dedicating Bill Walsh Field at...

Image 14 of 16

Bob Mallamo directs where to put equipment as Broncos' personnel unload gear on Wednesday. Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Bob Mallamo directs where to put equipment as Broncos' personnel...

Image 15 of 16

49ers assistant equipment manager Scott Rotier adjusts a helmet after the team's gear is dropped off at Candlestick Park on Wednesday. Bob Mallamo has been the 49ers equipment manager for decades at Candelstick Park and will follow the team to Santa Clara when the new stadium opens in 2014. At Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, Mallamo was coordinating the team's final season at The 'Stick by watching over the arrival of the team's equipment for the 49ers preseason game against the Broncos, .

A sign above the entrance to the visiting team's locker room at Candlestick Park identifies it as Mallamo's Place. It is not much inside - a barbaric holding cell by today's standards - but it is a place Bob Mallamo is proud of.

For 34 years, first part time, then full time, he has kept it in working order, along with the 49ers locker room across the hall. Both qualify as Mallamo's Place, and the job of running them is both unusual and obsolete.

Unusual because every game at Candlestick Park is a road game for both teams. The home and visitor locker rooms start out empty. Then it all arrives by truck in an orchestrated dance that goes through a set of double doors with Mallamo standing at the entrance as the conductor.

Obsolete because next year the 49ers will open their stadium in Santa Clara, next to their team headquarters and practice facility. Mallamo will still have his job. But it won't be the same, because the players will be able to walk to work on game days. The urgency of transporting all these men and equipment up and down Highway 101 will be gone, and so, too, will be the old stadium that hugs the bay shoreline like a spaceship that has just touched down.

"You get somebody in here for the first time, and they're a little kid in a candy store," says Mallamo, 66, a native San Franciscan and graduate of St. Ignatius High School. "Everybody thinks this is a great job until you have to do it."

'I am still a clubby'

The job description on Mallamo's Candlestick badge describes him as "49ers Game Day Locker Room Manager," but when he started, he was what was known as a "clubby," managing the visiting clubhouse for the San Francisco Giants.

"I guess I am still a clubby," he says. "Not too many people call me that."

Back when they did, the walls were painted in the Giants colors of orange, white and black, and the ballplayers considered the clubhouse their hangout. They didn't want to bother moving their stuff for football, so when the seasons overlapped, the crew had to put plywood over the Giants lockers, then bring in temporary metal lockers for the 49ers.

After each football game, they would take it all apart and store it away, then build it again for the next one. When the Giants departed for Pacific Bell Park in 2000, the 49ers took over. The walls were repainted red and gold and black, and the jerseys of legends were hung up for inspiration.

Everything else, including the nameplates on the lockers, is temporary and arrives on a53-foot truck from S&M Moving Co. The other team's gear comes later, in two smaller trucks.

Once everything is loaded in, the two locker rooms are padlocked for the night. Mallamo is here to unlock them at 5:30 a.m. on game day. He is also responsible for the fleet of golf carts that the 49ers keep under the stands. Once he gets all of those dispersed and hauls the teams' heavy metal trunks to the sidelines, he starts cutting up oranges and bananas.

By the time the first busload of players arrives Sunday morning, Mallamo is cleared out of both locker rooms. His station is in the hallway that separates them. If a player on either team needs anything, he is on it.

"A lot of the old players come back through, and they still seek me out," he says. "There are a lot of favorites - Ronnie Lott, Tom Rathman, Dwight Clark. I could sit here and name everybody."

Historic hallway

The locker rooms at Candlestick are beneath the south end zone on the bay side of the stadium. The 49ers dress in a room that drops down "below sea level," as Steve Young likes to say, speaking fondly of the dank atmosphere. The ceiling gets lower the farther in you go, tapered by the rows of seats above it.

From there it connects to the field by a long tunnel that looks like something coal miners might be wary of. The tunnel is leaky and so narrow that two players in pads walking side by side would get stuck. They have to walk single file.

"Take a look at this tunnel," Mallamo says while walking it for old times' sake. "Paint is coming off and pipes are sticking out."

After the 49ers take the field for pregame warm-ups, Mallamo goes into their dressing room and picks up the mess of tape and cups and whatnot. When the visitors go out through a separate and roomier hallway, he does the same. When the teams return from warm-ups, they trash the locker rooms again, and that is picked up once the game is under way.

After that, he goes out to the field only if one of the teams radios that they need something. Otherwise he stays in the hallway, guarding the entrance to both locker rooms.

When the game is over, the visiting team will clear out in an hour, all the gear reloaded onto trucks. The 49ers might linger longer, an hour and 15 minutes, tops.

"Then we clean up," he says. "You check all the lockers, make sure nothing was left behind." Except for laundry. He comes back the next day and does the wash in the eerily quiet stadium.

"I love this place," he says. "It's an old friend."

He's keeping the sign

But unless the 49ers earn a home playoff game, Mallamo's Place will open for the last time on the night before Christmas Eve. Then he will take down the framed jerseys from the 49ers locker room and send them to Santa Clara. Across the hall, in the visitors' room, is a wall decorated with stickers from every team he has entertained. It has taken years and years, but he has every team in the NFL, plus the National League baseball clubs, on that wall.

He does not know what will happen to the wall of stickers, but he knows what will happen to the sign for Mallamo's Place.